For those of us in the UK, it might work out expensive to send books overseas. But I'd be happy to do it with e-books. I have a large number of non-DRM ebooks in both epub and mobi format that I'd be glad to email once a month to someone for their Kindle, nook, iPad, etc.

I just realized I'm going to be uncharacteristically unavailable for most of the remainder of the day. So brainstorm without me (e-books are totally a great idea!), but don't feel I'm ignoring y'all!

I wonder if we could do a sort of small-scale BookMooch. Maybe at one point each month we could post what books we have available, and people could claim the ones they want, so long as a) other people get a chance to see the whole list before someone takes them and b) one person doesn't take 28 books at a time. (I'm basically suggesting this because I'm a bit of a book snob and am not fond of certain genres, although on the other hand I also read romance novels at a sickening pace.)

If you want to stick with the randomness, though, that's cool too.

I like the BookMooch idea. But without any rules. Why don't we just put up a thread once a month and see who wants what books? I'm very happy to send off my actual books to a bunny. (Sadly, I read ebooks in non-give-awayable formats.)

Damn, and I'm still boycotting the USPS over their crappy handling of legitimate media mail.

You know what would be fun as part of this? Wishlists.

I love this idea! Swaps are so much fun!

I'd be interested in the no-rules version of this.

OK, I'm back online.

I'm confused by the various (not at all binding) votes. Possibly because I've never heard of BookMooch.

So let me talk this out in my sleep-deprived state and make sure I'm understanding, because I think I originally had a similar idea and I'm not sure why I discarded it.

No-rules BookMooch with Wishlists would be something like:

We have a thread in which anyone who wants to participate lists all books, in all formats, that they are willing to send. (Or maybe this links to a spreadsheet or something so that I can more easily keep track, but I can figure that out.)

People indicate what books they might want from the proffered volumes.

People also indicate what books they might one day want (wishlists).

Because I am a control freak and therefore automatically believe that controlled solutions are best, my instinct for the next step is that I would match up book-wanters with book-senders, to avoid bearwife's "one person walks off with 28 books" scenario.

But I am totally open to the idea that book-havers just message whatever book-wanters they desire and set up shipping. I don't want it to turn into a popularity contest, though. Is there a way to push against that?

Oops, that was Madamina's "One person walks off with 28 books" scenario, not bearwife's. Sorry. See above, re: sleep deprived.

How about a hard limit of 3 to 5 books per parcel from the Mooch lists. That would control costs, too. My budget could accomodate mailing12 books a month. I doubt I would want that many in return regularly, but I am not really looking for parity from this.

Perhaps a two day waiting period from posting an available book before anyone can claim it?

A wiki-style listing where members can edit lists?

I wouldn't want to limit this to a Mooch thing though, because I always stumble across books that I think someone or other here would like, but lacking their (current) address, I leave it. Since we would probably have everybody's addresses anyway, then everyone should expect to find an occasional surprise.

That's the reason I threw in wishlists. I would love to take a day each month armed with a fistful of wishlists and hit Seattle's used bookstores.

Even if we do something in which book-getters identify which book(s) they want, maybe we can have/encourage book-getters to say "random" or "whatever" or whatever, to indicate they're open to getting whatever someone wants to send. Because I kind of like the idea of getting a non-personally-selected book from someone whose taste I respect (which includes all of MeCha).

"Non-personally-selected book" probably should have been "non-self-selected" or "non-pre-selected."

I should probably stop posting this evening.

I like the random package idea as well. If we get 6 people interested in sending out 5 books a month each, things stay easy. If we get 8, then each month we can split that into 2 groups of 4 that are randomized each month.

Plus, the Mooch thing can run on its own alongside it with the overall goal of everyone making a mailing twice each month. Is that too often for anyone?

All numbers are open for modification.

Violating my "Stop Posting!" self-command:

Is that too often for anyone?

Exactly the question. One of the reasons I'd like to hash out specifics is because I want to get a sense of what amount of work everyone involved is willing to do.

I understand that the major impetus here might be to trade books with bunnies, but in case you would be interested in a bigger venue, this is basically what PaperBack Swap does, including wishlists and browsing. jessamyn turned me onto it and I love it - I've gotten just about every book I've recently wanted here.

I have some ebooks and audiobooks which I will send to anyone who wants them.

I think this sounds fun, but I'm getting away from paper books for the most part (although I do have some ebooks, if they're desired).

I like giving people books, almost a smuch as I like getting mail, especially with books.

Could we do something like Seekrit Quonsar, where you give ideas of books you like, and everybody sends books, and everybody gets books? I have an Android phone with a big screen, but have still not used ebooks yet, but I'll give it a try.

I like theora55's idea. I'd participate as a one time or annual thing, but I'm not gonna ship and pick up books every month. More power if folks do. I'm also not on an ebook platform.

OK, so we seem to want:

as-desired participation
options to request certain books or not
ability to indicate different formats (paper or digital or audio or all of the above)

Lemme see if I can throw together some sort of spreadsheet in a format that makes sense, and post it early next week?

Ooh, I only just found this thread. Wonderful idea. THANK YOU, occhi.